The Texas budget is in big trouble. Any thoughts from conservatives?

Can't really argue.  Rauner has been a fantastic failure as governor, being more worried about impressing Walker and Pence with anti-union nonsense and stopping the Syrian invasion than actually working to get a budget passed.  His approval is worse than Quinn's these days.

 
I may not be the most politically savvy person, but I didn't think it was the governor who passed a budget.  Just like it's not Obama's failing that the Federal Budget has been such a disaster for so long.

Regardless, Rauner *has* been a fantastic failure, following up on the complete suckballs that came before him.  The state is probably to the point where it won't be saved without drastic changes.

 
http://m.thesouthern.com/news/local/state-and-regional/lisa-madigan-daily-fantasy-betting-is-illegal-gambling/article_7a16d8e3-db46-5951-9947-da03f82881d5.html

I know several states are looking at this right now - but living in Illinois, it strikes me as hypocritical that I can walk down to the bar or gas station on the corner and legally play video poker machines, but fantasy sports betting is what our state government decides to focus on right now.

Oh, wait - we get to tax one and not the other. Makes sense.
 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/01/no-cost-license-plate-readers-are-turning-texas-police-mobile-debt-collectors-and

Apparent one company is helping Texas cops by giving them "free" license plate scanners. Vigilant is offering these scanners for cops but it comes with a caveat. All information will be transmitted to the company, some of which can be used to find existing court fees. When you are scanned into the system and found to owe money, you are given an option to pay the outstanding fee plus a 25% charge (the charge goes to Vigilance as a convenience fee). Remember this still applies: http://www.npr.org/series/313986316/guilty-and-charged

 
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UncleBob said:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-state-university-layoff-notices-20160226-story.html

Remember when Texas was getting crap for cutting education spending to get their budget in order?

Good thing Illinois didn't do any of that...
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So... apparently, the Illinois budget is so bad that public schools are sending out letters stating that they may not be opening this fall due to a lack of budget.

Yeah... I'm *really* glad we have this thread to look back on. Can we get this printed and laminated?

 
Because I feel you folks who are not from the Great State of Illinois just truely do not grasp the magnitude of ****ed-up the Land of Lincoln is right now:

Apparently, the state is so dead broke, there's no money to mail out Vehicle Registration Renewals. So, you don't catch that your tags are due, you get a ticket, then, you get to pay a late fee on top of that. But mailing out a fifty cent postcard is off the table.

Anyone from Texas want to chime in?
 
The issue isn't that the state is "too broke" to send out notifications, it's that the state didn't have a budget passed and therefore the Sec. of State's office didn't have the funding to send out notifications.  It's the same basic thing as when the government "shuts down" and the museums close -- it's not "we're too broke for museums!", it's a funding issue caused by paperwork and bureaucracy.  Not sure if there's money in the stopgap budget for it; last I read the SOS office was still deciding.

But it sounds as though you're one of the people who can't keep track of when your plate stickers are due despite it being right there on your car and needs the government to hold your hand. Also, you have 30 days from the sticker's expiration before you have to pay an additional late fee.  So you have to not look at your plate or take notice for an additional month before it's actually an issue.

 
Not me, a co-worker. :p

I got hit with it 15 or so years ago (when they did send out reminders... go me...), so I put a reminder in my email calendar and, later, my cell phone.

And yes, the state is broke, so our leaders in Springfield/Chicago are unable to cobble together a budget for things like running our schools or things that virtually every other state deems to be a pretty standard service.

Odd that the "temporary" elimination of this particular program is one that happens to make the state more cash. And talk about regressive - I'm sure when Mr. 1% gets pulled over, he receives no ticket, but just just a friendly reminder (and, the off-chance he does get a ticket, I'm sure it's dropped faster than a hot plate of poop...)

It's almost like how we suspended the payouts on lottery winners, but kept selling tickets and introducing new games.
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-stopgap-budget-met-20160717-story.html

Indeed, in the days since the agreement was reached, Southern Illinois University announced it'd still need to lay off workers and cut millions in spending; Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the state's largest human services provider, says it will not be able to rehire 750 workers cut during the impasse or restore more than 30 programs that cared for the vulnerable; and officials with the Illinois secretary of state's office said the relief may not be enough to resume mailing out registration renewal reminders to drivers.
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I'm not denying that there's fiscal issues in the state.  I'm saying that no one said "Welp, we're too broke to mail out notifications..." they said "There's no budget allowing us to mail out these notifications."

The current issue is that the stopgap budget isn't a full budget, just one that kept essential services, schools and some social services open so neither party felt the heat from allowing elementary schools to close, etc.

The main problem right now is less the immediate fiscal issue and more the political impasse that is keeping anyone from addressing the fiscal issue.  Rauner refuses to look at a budget that doesn't include his pet conservative causes (that don't really relate to the budget at all).  Hell, even Crain's Chicago Business wrote an op-ed saying that they were wrong to endorse him and he's failed on everything they thought he'd accomplish to fix the state.  When the main pro-business publication in the region is saying that the pro-business governor is a big loser and they regret endorsing him...

Also, the the IL House & Senate passed a bill suspending the additional fine for late plate stickers.  The governor has yet to sign it.

 
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Syntax Error said:
I'm not denying that there's fiscal issues in the state. I'm saying that no one said "Welp, we're too broke to mail out notifications..." they said "There's no budget allowing us to mail out these notifications."
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Sure, no one has said there's no money for the State of Illinois Space Program to launch our habitat on the moon either.

Budget issues aside, it'd be handy if the SoS office could, presumably though a bill authorizing it, take $1.50 from every tag sold and drop that into an account. Then, whenever they ship out a batch of renewal notices, they pay for it out of those funds. Essentially, you pay for the renewal notification when you renew your tags.
 
Looks like the Texas budget falls about $3 billion short, but the state is able to make up for that via a "Rainy Day" fund (heh) and money from a transportation account...

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/27/texas-legiature-votes-217-billion-budget/


In Illinois, we're looking at our third year without a budget... junk ratings... no businesses want to come here... state is just toxic...

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-31/illinois-budget-crisis-is-about-to-get-even-harder-to-resolve

It's funny to see Rauner (who is such a terrible governor anyway) get so much crap for this... as if the state wasn't in dire straights before he took over or something. Maybe more folks should read through this thread.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pregnancy-related-deaths-are-inexcusably-high-in-the-us_us_57b601d8e4b0b51733a20d56

I really like in the ABC news article, the only proposal called out speciffically was:

Kolkhorst introduced a measure with wide support that would have extended the life of Texas' maternal mortality task force to 2023 from its current 2019 end date, allowing the committee of doctors and behavioral specialists to analyze more closely the specific causes of pregnancy-related deaths.
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Extending a task for that was established four years ago, that...

And yet, the mortality rate did double. The study authors didn’t speculate about what could have caused this spike in maternal deaths, and a state task force tasked to study the problem in 2013 won’t release its first report until Sept. 1.
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...has literally had zero results since it's inception. I'm not saying the task force is useless, but I have to say that waiting to see some actual results does make a lot of sense.
 
According to this: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2016/09/28/secrecy-bad-data-cloak-reasons-texas-surge-pregnancy-related-deaths Turns out the State Government is unwilling to hand over data to policy makers. Knowing which women die from pregnancy-related deaths is indeed very important if you want to prevent more, much like how you're supposed to know who dies from many diseases and health conditions. Considering Texas refused $35 million dollars in Medicaid in March to stop Planned Parenthood and related organizations to operate in the state, you know what the politicians in Texas messes with. https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/16/womens-health-programs-saw-sharp-decline-clients/

 
A second study, by the state health department's Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force, was released in August. It, too, analyzed maternal death data for 2011 and 2012. During that time, the state task force found that black women bore the "greatest risk for maternal death."
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Ah, it looks like the task force *has* done *something* along the way.

Both studies took issue with the quality of death reporting in Texas and nationwide. In the state-sponsored study, one of the major findings was "data quality issues" that make it difficult for researchers to identify a maternal or obstetric death.

Those researchers were reliant on a small sample of records provided by the Texas health department, and those were heavily redacted, the report notes. Also, the task force noted that maternal deaths are not investigated consistently in Texas, making data analysis difficult.

The task force also found "a lack of standardization" in how maternal deaths are reported to either medical examiner offices or the local justices of the peace. And when maternal deaths are reported, there were several instances, the task force found, in which pertinent laboratory tests were not performed.
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The article talks about how the state wouldn't release PII to news outlets (I wonder where HIPPA plays into this), then goes on to talk about how researchers apparently got *some* data, but that the data collection process itself is pretty terrible.
 
UncleBob said:
It's funny to see Rauner (who is such a terrible governor anyway) get so much crap for this... as if the state wasn't in dire straights before he took over or something.
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That's what happens when you promise to fix something and instead make it worse.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, the Republican-dominated state legislature overturns a veto from Gov. Brownback and is rolling back Brownback's disastrous tax cuts, citing deep budget shortfalls, a lack of promised economic growth, degradation of state services and generally deeming the Great Conservative Tax Experiment a failure.

 
Yeah, Rauner is likely screwed.  He has accomplished absolutely nothing towards fixing the state finances, has held up budgets for his pet conservative causes (that are non-budget related) and whining "But Madigan..." isn't going to help when he's on a statewide ballot and Madigan only has to run in his district.  Governor Rauner is a plain embarrassment.

Hell, Blagojevich was arguably a more effective governor.  You know, until he was arrested and stuff.

 
I think it's time to break up the state. :/

Madigan has no business being reelected (but will be) and Rauner can't be shown the door fast enough.
 
UncleBob said:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-dissolving-illinois-kass-met-20170620-column.html pretty bad when the Chicago Tribune suggests just killing the state altogether.
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I left almost two years ago and didn't look back. However, since the shift is off TX right now, just how bad is it down there? My GF and I are weighing options of places to move and Austin is one of the top picks as a center for creative talents. Just how bad/good are things down there?

 
The Illinois House just over rode Rauner's veto two days after the Senate did the same, giving Illinois its first budget package in three years.

 
Yay more tax increases for Illinois - but no notable efforts to reign in spending of any kind.

That worked out really well the last time we did it.

This thread will be interesting in four years (Hint, it won't take four years).

 
Eh, taxes are at the same place they were in 2014.  There's spending cuts in the budget but I'll decline to quibble over "notable".

More to the point, Rauner's failed leadership took us down to the final brink so a triage budget is what we get.

 
I just had to pay $600 to register my car in my blue state. It used to be about $50 in my old red state I moved from. Democrat states suck. The gas here is taxed like crazy too.
 
yea, except annecdotes do not represent a situation as a whole, its fairly random the distribution of cheap flat rate vs. weight/age/other options that make it expensive

http://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/registration-and-title-fees-by-state.aspx

i.e. value based is one of the worst, and thats what we have, but it takes into account depreciation until you hit a flat rate, but thats also in a bunch of red states

 
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Syntax Error said:
Eh, taxes are at the same place they were in 2014.
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Yup. When they were supposed to be temporary increases to fix the state's problems. That worked well.

More to the point, Rauner's failed leadership took us down to the final brink so a triage budget is what we get.
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Rauner's failed leadership was just the second-in-command taking control of a ship that was already sinking when the captain died, then sitting on his hands and watching it sink.

At this point, someone should run for governor on the platform of dissolving the state and refusing to sign any bill that isn't that.
 
UncleBob said:
Rauner's failed leadership was just the second-in-command taking control of a ship that was already sinking when the captain died, then sitting on his hands and watching it sink.
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Well, no argument that Rauner just sat on his hands and did nothing to help the state, going so far as to actively fight against efforts if they didn't include pet causes.

That is, of course, the very definition of "Failed leadership".

 
Donken said:
I just had to pay $600 to register my car in my blue state. It used to be about $50 in my old red state I moved from. Democrat states suck. The gas here is taxed like crazy too.
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It's $101 here in the Land of Lincoln. Flat rate regardless of vehicle age or vehicle type. For passenger vehicles anyway; I've never had to buy a plate sticker for a semi or a dump truck.

Gas tax is a percentage like sales tax. Which is a problem when gas prices drop since the state gets less money for roads despite the fact that people aren't actually driving less. Of course, when prices were $4+ they get more but then you get politicians calling for a suspension of the gas tax as relief so the coffers never really overflow.

 
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http://www.bnd.com/opinion/editorials/article174796016.html

The upside of dysfunction seems to be that if you allow a two-year budget impasse, if you let your deadbeat pile of bills grow from $6.6 billion in 2014 to $16 billion today, and if you ignore pension obligations until they are in a $130 billion hole, then all that will lead to frustration. In fact, it leads to enough frustration to make you want to get out.
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http://www.politifact.com/illinois/statements/2017/sep/20/bruce-rauner/rauners-right-illinois-budget-balancing-act-ongoin/

Gov. Bruce Rauner said Illinois’ current operating budget is "is more than $1 billion out of balance…" [...] Some of the assumptions identified as sources of the trouble originated in Rauner’s own budget, a fact that Rauner does not acknowledge and that needs to be considered here. Whether or not the imbalance reaches more than $1 billion is debatable, but Rauner is correct that there remains much work to do. We rate his statement Mostly True.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-budget/illinois-unpaid-bill-backlog-hits-a-record-16-billion-idUSKCN1BU242

Illinois’ pile of unpaid bills topped $16 billion for the first time as the state deals with the fallout of an unprecedented two straight fiscal years without complete budgets, the state comptroller’s office reported on Tuesday.

The bill backlog is growing despite the enactment of a fiscal 2018 spending plan and income tax increase in July that ended a budget impasse between Illinois’ Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature.
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https://www.ilnews.org/news/state_politics/illinois-budget-deal-penalizes-cities-that-impose-sales-taxes/article_7a8439a6-8cb5-11e7-849e-b302933cf0f0.html

Cities that are more dependent on local sales tax revenues will be the most affected, and one of the few other alternatives for cities might be to raise property taxes, he said.
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So... how is Texas doing? The mighty Democrats overrode Evil Rauner's veto and now the state of Illinois is outperforming all expectations...
 
I wonder if anyone is watching the Illinois Governor's race. It's an epic shitstorm. A billionaire running against a millionaire to take a job that pays less than $200k/year running a broke-ass state.

And the Democratic candidate did the same thing Trump did, downplaying the value of his property to get out of paying taxes, but hey, He's a Democrat in Illinois... if that's the worst he's done, then we're moving up!
 
Did anyone else notice Newt made reference to this problem in his speech tonight? He also talked about reinstating Ronald Reagans Mexico City Policy, which prohibits any American tax dollars from funding or promoting abortions. As far as I can remember, I think he was the only one to mention either of these.
 
Which is why I was surprised at the lack of power armor in his budget. How in the hell is he going to find the Guardians of the Galaxy with NASAs help if he doesnt have the necessary power armor for the job?

 
Which is why I was surprised at the lack of power armor in his budget. How in the hell is he going to find the Guardians of the Galaxy with NASAs help if he doesnt have the necessary power armor for the job?

 
It really depends on what your budget is and what kind of sound you like. I just put Alpine SPX-17REF components in my tahoe with an amp and they sound WAY better than the stock speakers. Whatever you do I would suggest amping them. I put a sub in too, but that is up to you.
 
Which is why I was surprised at the lack of power armor in his budget. How in the hell is he going to find the Guardians of the Galaxy with NASAs help if he doesnt have the necessary power armor for the job?

 
and Ill add my own....

If those on leave slimdown are non-essentials - then we dont need them anyway...right?? well some of them.


---
SCHOOL YARD BULLIES radio talk show host... Gee they expel them from school, cant we expel them from DC?
 
Which is why I was surprised at the lack of power armor in his budget. How in the hell is he going to find the Guardians of the Galaxy with NASAs help if he doesnt have the necessary power armor for the job?

 
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